The real toll of the COVID-19 response

Every COVID-19 death is a tragedy and while we continue to fight this virus, we may never know the real number of deaths when it comes to this disease.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau as of July, more than 44% of Californians reported levels of anxiety and depression. Over 71% of Californians between the age of 18 and 29 reported feeling down, depressed or hopeless. The reality is a significant portion of the population is suffering, not from coronavirus, but from the mandated response. The rising unemployment rate coupled with the extended lockdowns is creating a major problem that must be addressed.

In the United Kingdom, which experienced the COVID-19 wave and response before the United States, 50,000 children have had surgery postponed, one in five people reported feeling depressed and 15,000 more people died at their home during the pandemic because they didn’t have proper healthcare or because they worried about going to the hospital.

These are difficult conversations to have, but we must start having them before we lose more people to insufficient care, suicide and drug overdoses. We can’t deal with speculation; we must focus on the facts.

The facts are people are suffering due to lockdowns. Meanwhile, the State of California continues to deal with fictitious predictions.

Last month, during his weekly press conference, California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said the state could see an increase of 89% in COVID-19 hospitalizations. Instead, hospitalizations have dropped in California over the last month.

The politicians in Sacramento need to stop scaring the public with wild predictions and instead start dealing with the realities. We have a mental health crisis, fueled by lockdowns and an economic crisis, that must be dealt with before it’s too late.